MONEY: IT HAS A RICH HISTORY

Orange County RegisterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Money has been around for centuries. Here are some fun facts about coins and currency from the British Museum and the Professional Numismatists Guild, a non-profit organization of American coin and paper-money experts.

Precious metals were first used as money in Mesopotamia before 2000 B.C.

The first coins were small blobs of gold and silver alloy made in Greek settlements in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.

The first bimetallic coinage system, the forerunner of modern coins, was created by King Croesus of Lydia between 560 and 546 B.C.

Paper money traces its roots to China, where certificates of deposit were issued to merchants in 806. The first widely circulated paper money in Europe was issued by the Bank of Stockholm in 1661.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in the American Colonies in 1690.

The first coins produced for circulation by the U.S. Mint in 1793 were copper half-cent and one-cent coins.

During the 1800s, the United States produced 2-, 3- and 20-cent coins. There have also been gold coins with face values of $1, $2.50, $5, $10, $20.

From 1800 to 1865, about 5,000 banks in the U.S. privately printed and issued paper money, but many of those financial institutions went out of business, leaving their bank notes worthless except to today's collectors.

During the Civil War, coins were hoarded. To help merchants and customers make change, the U.S. Treasury Department made "fractional currency," small-sized paper money in 3-, 5-, 10-, 15-, 25-, and 50-cent denominations.

The largest-denomination paper money issued by the U.S. was the $100,000 gold certificate of 1934. These bills were intended only for use between financial institutions and not for public circulation. The portrait on the notes is of President Woodrow Wilson.